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Left-wing Councilman Brad Lander maintained a narrow lead over City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, preliminary election results released Wednesday show.
With absentee ballots still yet to be factored in, Lander stands 3.8 percent above Johnson in the Democratic comptroller primary after 10 rounds of the city’s new instant runoff tabulation system, according to the new unofficial tally.
Just 21,132 votes separate the pair of Council members with about 125,000 mail-in ballots that have not yet been counted, leaving the race undecided.
The results come after the June 22 Election Day, when Lander held a 8.5 percent lead, with just first choice votes and 96 percent of ballot scanners reported.
Though the race tightened as voters’ second through fifth choices were factored into the results, Lander’s campaign insisted it was “confident” its lead would expand once absentee votes are counted.
“After yesterday’s debacle with additional test ballots, the NYC Board of Elections’ new run at a first tabulation of the ranked choice vote allocation shows that Brad Lander continues to lead the race for NYC Comptroller by 3.8%,” said campaign manager Chris Walsh in a statement.
“We look forward to every vote being counted and continue to be confident that absentee ballots will widen Brad’s lead.”
Wednesday’s results followed the Board of Election’s ballot botching on Tuesday, when the body included test results in the tally, leading to a large discrepancy between election night ballots and the votes in the results released the week after.
The colossal screw up ignited yet another round of calls to reform the beleaguered BOE, which has been helmed by its “disaster” deputy since March, The Post reported Wednesday.
In the Democratic comptroller primary race, the front-running Johnson picked up a series of major endorsements, including from the city’s teacher’s union, Hotel Trades Council, the city’s building service workers’ union and the union representing transportation workers.
But Lander soon speedily drove up his standing in the polls, as he received endorsements from key left-wingers like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, as well as the New York Times editorial board.
Johnson — who during the campaign faced attacks from Lander and former financial journalist Michelle Caruso-Cabrera — entered the comptroller race in March, after dropping his mayoral bid, citing depression and mental health challenges. Despite his former mayoral hopeful status, the Council speaker in a June 20 debate said he wouldn’t run to lead City Hall if he was elected comptroller.
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